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Friday, July 8, 2016

"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand), "then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.

"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

- Matthew 24:15-31

In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and it is Holy Week. He has made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, cleansed the temple,
and engaged in confrontation, questioning, and testing by the various parties of the
leadership, with His own challenging responses. (See the readings from Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.) Still in the temple, Jesus' then made His final public sermon, an indictment of hypocritical practices of the leadership, ending with a lament over Jerusalem (see readings of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). Yesterday, we read that then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came
up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them,
"Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one
stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him
privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" And Jesus
answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For
many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ,' and will deceive
many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are
not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in
various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will
be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be
offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many
false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness
will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the
end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in
all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will
come."

"Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him
understand), "then let those in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him
who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe
to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those
days!" Jesus refers to the prophecy of Daniel of the abomination of desolation (see Daniel 11:31, 12:11; also Daniel's vision at 9:21-27). This was fulfilled in AD 70, during the Siege of Jerusalem, when the Roman General Titus entered the Most Holy Place and had a statue of himself erected in the temple, and later had the temple destroyed. My study bible tells us that the phrase when you see indicates that many of the disciples would still be living at this time. My study bible also says that the parenthetical statement whoever reads, let him understand is commonly understood to be inserted by Matthew as encouragement to the early Christian flock, who may have witnessed this event. Again Jesus uses vivid imagery to portray the urgency with which people must evacuate the city to avoid perishing in its destruction.

"And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For
then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the
beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And
unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the
elect's sake those days will be shortened." My study bible says that the severity in winter weather or respect for the Sabbath would prevent many faithful from fleeing quickly at a time of desperation. It also notes a spiritual interpretation that has been given for this passage: the Sabbath may symbolize idleness with regard to virtue, and winter can symbolize fruitlessness with regard to charity. A person departing earthly life in such a spiritual state will suffer judgment. It is noteworthy that here there are mingled elements of both end times and the destruction of Jerusalem. Tribulation, for example, is not limited to only the time of the destruction of the temple, but rather is a condition of the age.

"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do
not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show
great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I
have told you beforehand. Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is
in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do
not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to
the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever
the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together." Jesus warns against false reports of His return, and that false christs and false prophets will arise (as did happen after His death). But this is mingled with talk of His return, which will be evident to all people. My study bible says that if there is any question or doubt, then that alone is evidence that He has not returned. The last statement here is a puzzling one, but one interpretation is that the body refers to Christ, while the eagles refer to the angels and the saints.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be
darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of
the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the
earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds
of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a
great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Commentary by Church Fathers holds that the glory of Christ will be so bright that by comparison the sun appears darkened. My study bible says that the sign of the Son of Man is the Cross, revealed as the standard for Christ's impending judgment. In His first coming, the Incarnation, Christ came in humility and mortality, as a human being subject to the influences of the world. But at His second coming, He will be revealed in power and great glory. What is perhaps most striking is that all His elect will be gathered together, from one end of heaven to the other.

We await Jesus' return at the end of the age, but there is no real timetable for us. We don't know when that is going to be. From the way Jesus teaches His disciples, the word that He gives to us, we are not supposed to know that time. As the world changes, we look around ourselves and wonder if the signs He's given are happening before us. Certainly we can see a globalized world, with instantaneous telecommunications and information that gives us news from everywhere, and all the time, 24 hours a day. It's a "networked" world, where events that happen in one place are bound to have effects on another, perhaps around the world. Economic crises can become worldwide, to one extent and another, because of a crisis in one country that will in turn affect exchange rates and currencies and stock markets elsewhere. We live in a time of continental shifts in terms of migration and warfare and populations that are no longer reflecting traditional demographics and communities. And there are wars and rumors of war, and it seems that the love of many has grown cold. In other ways, it seems that lawlessness abounds. These are all signs of this age that Jesus has described. In today's reading, Jesus gives the signs in Jerusalem -- and a clear warning about what is to come and when -- to His disciples. The events of the destruction of the temple and of Jerusalem were, in a sense, "inaugural" events of the end time; that is, the time in which we live now and have been living since His death and Resurrection. It is the time in which we await His return. We are witnesses to His prophesies, and from what we see, He surely was correct. But the crucial thing we need to cling to, as those who will endure to the end, as He has taught, are His teachings for us. That is, the ways in which He has taught us to endure, following His commandments, knowing His love, living as His friends, followers, brothers and sisters, children. That's where we find our true home and our identity, the one thing we know is true if all else fails and leads us wrong. In a time of darkness, the light just becomes that much more important. Like the time of His return, it's His truth and glory that outshine everything else as the one thing necessary. Let us remember and live and put our trust where it belongs.

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